COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State thumped Indiana, 38-15, on Saturday, giving the team yet another win and putting the Buckeyes on the path toward a Big Ten Championship Game.
Here are some postgame observations from the day:
Ohio State’s defense has figured thigns out
The Oregon game was a mess.
The defensive front got no pressure on Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, and the secondary couldn’t hold up — at all — in coverage. It looked like a defense without a plan.
Now, the Buckeyes have figured some things out.
Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke was sacked five times, as he had little to no time to get rid of the ball as the Buckeyes unleashed wave after wave of blitzes on him. Could the secondary hold up in coverage? Perhaps. But there wasn’t enough time to find out.
The real test for Ohio State’s defense will be Oregon, and potentially a few playoff teams. But for now, they’ve been playing stellar football.
Will Howard had his best game as a Buckeye
Will Howard’s season as a Buckeye has been mostly very strong. But there have been moments of up and down play that have defined his year.
Saturday was his most consistently great effort of the season thus far.
Howard finished 22 of 26 passing for 201 yards with two touchdown passes and an interception — a turnover that wasn’t his fault, as it bounced out of the arms of tight end Jelani Thurman.
Even as the Buckeyes struggled to run the ball up front, Howard was pinpoint with his accuracy and made a few stellar throws, specifically on a drive in the first quarter that featured a third and 35. It was a hole of Howard’s creation, considering he made a remarkably ill-advised intentional grounding penalty, but he made up for it just a few plays later.
He’s playing the type of football that Ohio State needs him to play.
Indiana is a playoff team
Can we stop with this? Please?
Indiana came into Ohio Stadium, got a three-and-out on the Buckeyes’ first drive, and then scored a touchdown to go up 7-0. Sans a total blunder on special teams at the end of the first half, Indiana was in the mix for the entire first half in a top five game on the road.
The Hoosiers always should’ve been in the College Football playoff conversation as a lock after they reached 10-0, but now, that should be set in stone. They’re one of the 12 best teams in the country. Fans and media need to stop helmet scouting and watch the games on the field.
Indiana isn’t as good as Ohio State — just like almost all other teams in college football, and a handful of other teams currently in playoff positioning. The resume at 10-1, and likely 11-1 after next week, is good enough to make the field. Whether Indiana can win something significant is another conversation, but that’s not the debate here.
From the Ohio State perspective, it’s another top five win for the program and for coach Ryan Day. That matters for a coach and team that has been knocked for not winning those games, and it should be viewed as a feather in the cap of a Buckeyes team that is seemingly destined for Indianapolis and a Big Ten Championship Game.
Indiana showed well all season long and came to Columbus ready to play early, but hurt itself with a bevy of mistakes in the middle two quarters and ran out of talent as the game wore on. But that doesn’t erase the previous three months of play from the Hoosiers.
And the Buckeyes deserve credit for winning the game in dominant fashion.